Chapter 6: Feedback Theory

6.1. Positive feedback systems

In a “positive feedback control system”, the set point and output values are added together by the
controller as the feedback is “in-phase” with the input. The effect of positive (or regenerative) feedback
is to “increase” the systems gain, e.g., the overall gain with positive feedback applied will be greater
than the gain without feedback. For example, if someone praises you or gives you positive feedback
about something, you feel happy about yourself and are full of energy, you feel more positive. However,
in electronic and control systems to much praise and positive feedback can increase the systems gain far
too much which would give rise to oscillatory circuit responses as it increases the magnitude of the
effective input signal. An example of positive feedback systems could be an electronic amplifier based
on an operational amplifier, or op-amp as shown in figure 6.1.

Figure 6.1: Positive feedback system

Positive feedback control of the op-amp is achieved by applying a small part of the output voltage signal
at back to the non-inverting ( + ) input terminal via the feedback resistor, . If the input
voltage is positive, the op-amp amplifies this positive signal and the output becomes more positive.
Some of this output voltage is returned back to the input by the feedback network. Thus the input
voltage becomes more positive, causing an even larger output voltage and so on. Eventually the output
becomes saturated at its positive supply rail. Likewise, if the input voltage is negative, the reverse
happens and the op-amp saturates at its negative supply rail. Then we can see that positive feedback
does not allow the circuit to function as an amplifier as the output voltage quickly saturates to one
supply rail or the other, because with positive feedback loops “more leads to more” and “less leads to
less”.

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Then if the loop gain is positive for any system the transfer function will be: = / (1 – ). Note
that if = 1 the system gain = and the circuit will start to self-oscillate, after which no
input signal is needed to maintain oscillations, which is useful if you want to make an oscillator.
Although often considered undesirable, this behaviour is used in electronics to obtain a very fast
switching response to a condition or signal. One example of the use of positive feedback is hysteresis in
which a logic device or system maintains a given state until some input crosses a preset threshold. This
type of behaviour is called “bi-stability” and is often associated with logic gates and digital switching
devices such as multivibrators. We have seen that positive or regenerative feedback increases the gain
and the possibility of instability in a system which may lead to self-oscillation and as such, positive
feedback is widely used in oscillatory circuits such as Oscillators and Timing circuits.

6.2. Negative feedback systems

In a “negative feedback control system”, the set point and output values are subtracted from each other
as the feedback is “out-of-phase” with the original input. The effect of negative (or degenerative)
feedback is to “reduce” the gain. For example, if someone criticizes you or gives you negative feedback
about something, you feel unhappy about yourself and therefore lack energy, you feel less positive.
Because negative feedback produces stable circuit responses, improves stability and increases the
operating bandwidth of a given system, the majority of all control and feedback systems is degenerative
reducing the effects of the gain. An example of a negative feedback system is an electronic amplifier
based on an operational amplifier as shown in figure 6.2.

Figure 6.2: Negative feedback system

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Negative feedback control of the amplifier is achieved by applying a small part of the output voltage

signal at back to the inverting ( − ) input terminal via the feedback resistor, Rf. If the input
voltage is positive, the op-amp amplifies this positive signal, but because its connected to the
inverting input of the amplifier, and the output becomes more negative. Some of this output voltage is
returned back to the input by the feedback network of . Thus the input voltage is reduced by the
negative feedback signal, causing an even smaller output voltage and so on. Eventually the output will
settle down and become stabilized at a value determined by the gain ratio of ÷ . Likewise, if the
input voltage is negative, the reverse happens and the op-amps output becomes positive (inverted)
which adds to the negative input signal. Then we can see that negative feedback allows the circuit to
function as an amplifier, so long as the output is within the saturation limits. So we can see that the
output voltage is stabilized and controlled by the feedback, because with negative feedback loops
“more leads to less” and “less leads to more”.

Then if the loop gain is positive for any system the transfer function will be: = / (1 + ). The
use of negative feedback in amplifier and process control systems is widespread because as a rule
negative feedback systems are more stable than positive feedback systems, and a negative feedback
system is said to be stable if it does not oscillate by itself at any frequency except for a given circuit
condition. Another advantage is that negative feedback also makes control systems more immune to
random variations in component values and inputs. Of course nothing is for free, so it must be used with
caution as negative feedback significantly modifies the operating characteristics of a given system.

6.3. Sensitivity of the control systems

A control system is defined as an interconnection of components forming a system that will provide a
desired system response. Because the desired system response is known, a signal proportional to the
error between the desired and the actual response is generated. The use of this signal to control the
process results in a closed-loop sequence of operations that is called a feedback system. This closed
loop sequence of operations is shown in figure 6.3. The introduction of feedback to improve the control
system is often necessary. It is interesting that this is also the case for systems in nature, such as
biological and physiological systems; feedback is inherent in these systems. For example, the human
heart rate control system is a feedback control system.

To illustrate the characteristics and advantages of introducing feedback, we will consider a single-loop
feedback system. Although many control systems are multi-loop, a single-loop system is illustrative. A
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thorough comprehension of the benefits of feedback can best be obtained from the single-loop system
and then extended to multi-loop systems.

A system without feedback, often called an open-loop system, is shown in figure 6.4. The disturbance,
(s), directly influences the output, (s). In the absence of feedback, the control system is highly
sensitive to disturbances and to changes in parameters of G(s).

Figure 6.3: The closed loop sequence of operation

Figure 6.4: An open loop system with a disturbance input

An open-loop system operates without feedback and directly generates the output in response to an
input signal.

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By contrast, a closed-loop, negative feedback control system is shown in figure 6.5.

A closed-loop system uses a measurement of the output signal and a comparison with the desired
output to generate an error signal that is used by the controller to adjust the actuator.

The two forms of control systems are shown in both block diagram and signal-flow graph form. Despite
the cost and increased system complexity, closed-loop feedback control has the following advantages:

 Decreased sensitivity of the system to variations in the parameters of the process.

 Improved rejection of the disturbances.
 Improved measurement noise reduction.
 Improved reduction of the steady-state error of the system.
 Easy control and adjustment of the transient response of the system.

Figure 6.5: A closed loop control system

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These examine how the application of feedback can result in the benefits listed above. Using the notion
of a tracking error signal, it will be readily apparent that it is possible to utilize feedback with a
controller in the loop to improve system performance.

6.4. Error signal analysis

The closed-loop feedback control system shown in Figure 4.3 has three inputs ( ), ( ), and ( )
and one output, ( ). The signals ( ), and ( ) are the disturbance and measurement noise signals,
respectively. Define the tracking error as following.

( )= ( )− ( ) → (1)

For ease of discussion, we will consider a unity feedback system, that is, ( ) = 1, in figure 6.3. After
some block diagram manipulation, we find that the output is given by following function.

( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )
( )= ( )+ ( )− ( ) → (2)
1+ ( ) ( ) 1+ ( ) ( ) 1+ ( ) ( )

Therefore, with ( ) = ( )— ( ), we have

1 ( ) ( ) ( )
( )= ( )− ( )+ ( ) → (3)
1+ ( ) ( ) 1+ ( ) ( ) 1+ ( ) ( )

Define the function as following

( )= ( ) ( ) → (4)

The function, ( ), is known as the loop gain and plays a fundamental role in control system analysis. In
terms of ( ) the tracking error is given by follow.

1 ( ) ( )
( )= ( )− ( )+ ( ) → (5)
1+ ( ) 1+ ( ) 1+ ( )

We can define the function as follow.

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 ( ) = 1 + ( ) → (6)

Then, in terms of ( ), we define the sensitivity function as

1 1
( )= = → (7)
( ) 1+ ( )

Similarly, in terms of the loop gain, we define the complementary sensitivity function as

( )
( )= → (8)
1+ ( )

In terms of the functions ( ) and ( ), we can write the tracking error as

( )= ( ) ( )– ( ) ( ) ( )+ ( ) ( ) → (9)

Examining equation (9) in above, we see that (for a given ( )), if we want to minimize the tracking
error, we want both ( ) and ( ) to be small. Remember that ( ) and ( ) are both functions of the
controller, ( ), which the control design engineer must select. However, the following special
relationship between ( ) and ( ) holds

( )+ ( ) = 1 → (10)

We cannot simultaneously make ( ) and ( ) small. Obviously, design compromises must be made.

To analyze the tracking error equation, we need to understand what it means for a transfer function to
be "large" or to be "small." The discussion of magnitude of a transfer function is the subject of
frequency response methods. However, for our purposes here, we describe the magnitude of the loop
gain ( ) by considering the magnitude | ( )| over the range of frequencies, , of interest.

Considering the tracking error in Equation (5), it is evident that, for a given ( ), to reduce the influence
of the disturbance, ( ), on the tracking error, ( ), we desire ( ) to be large over the range of
frequencies that characterize the disturbances. That way, the transfer function ( )/(1 + ( )) will
be small, thereby reducing the influence of ( ). Since ( ) = ( ) ( ), this implies that we need

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to design the controller ( ) to have a large magnitude. Conversely, to attenuate the measurement
noise, ( ), and reduce the influence on the tracking error, we desire ( ) to be small over the range of
frequencies that characterize the measurement noise. The transfer function ( )/(1 + ( )) will be
small, thereby reducing the influence of ( ). Again, since ( ) = ( ) ( ), that implies that we
need to design the controller ( ) to have a small magnitude. Fortunately, the apparent conflict
between wanting to make ( ) large to reject disturbances and the wanting to make ( ) small to
attenuate measurement noise can be addressed in the design phase by making the loop gain, ( ),
large at low frequencies (generally associated with the frequency range of disturbances), and making
( ) small at high frequencies (generally associated with measurement noise).

Next, discuss how we can use feedback to reduce the sensitivity of the system to variations and
uncertainty in parameters in the process, ( ). This is accomplished by analyzing the tracking error in
Equation (2) when ( ) = ( ) = 0.

6.5. Sensitivity of control systems to parameter variations

A process, represented by the transfer function ( ), whatever its nature, is subject to a changing
environment, aging, ignorance of the exact values of the process parameters, and other natural factors
that affect a control process. In the open-loop system, all these errors and changes result in a changing
and inaccurate output. However, a closed-loop system senses the change in the output due to the
process changes and attempts to correct the output. The sensitivity of a control system to parameter
variations is of prime importance. A primary advantage of a closed-loop feedback control system is its
ability to reduce the system's sensitivity.

For the closed-loop case, if ( ) ( ) ≫ 1 for all complex frequencies of interest, we can use
Equation (2) to obtain (letting ( ) = 0 and ( ) = 0)

( ) ≅ ( )

The output is approximately equal to the input. However, the condition ( ) ( ) >>> 1 may cause
the system response to be highly oscillatory and even unstable. But the fact that increasing the
magnitude of the loop gain reduces the effect of ( ) on the output is an exceedingly useful result.
Therefore, the first advantage of a feedback system is that the effect of the variation of the parameters
of the process, ( ), is reduced.

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Suppose the process (or plant) ( ) undergoes a change such that the true plant model is ( ) +
∆ ( ). The change in the plant may be due to a changing external environment or natural aging, or it
may just represent the uncertainty in certain plant parameters. We consider the effect on the tracking
error ( ) due to ∆ ( ). Relying on the principle of superposition, we can let ( ) = ( ) = 0 and
consider only the reference input ( ), From Equation (3), it follows that

1
( )+ ∆ ( )= ( ) → (11)
1+ ( )( ( ) + ∆ ( ))

Then the change in the tracking error is

− ( )∆ ( )
∆ ( )= ( )
(1 + ( ) ( ) + ( )∆ ( ))(1 + ( ) ( ))

Since we usually find that ( ) ( ) ≫ ( ) ∆ ( ), we have

− ( )∆ ( )
∆ ( )≈ ( )
(1 + ( ))

We see that the change in the tracking error is reduced by the factor 1 + ( ), which is generally
greater than 1 over the range of frequencies of interest. For large ( ), we have 1 + ( ) ≈ ( ), and
we can approximate the change in the tracking error by

1 ∆ ( )
∆ ( )≈− ( ) → (12)
( ) ( )

Larger magnitude ( ) translates into smaller changes in the tracking error (that is, reduced sensitivity
to changes in ∆ ( ) in the process). Also, larger ( ) implies smaller sensitivity, ( ). The question
arises, how do we define sensitivity? Since our goal is to reduce system sensitivity, it makes sense to
formally define the term.

The system sensitivity is defined as the ratio of the percentage change in the system transfer function
to the percentage change of the process transfer function. The system transfer function is

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 ( )
( )= → (13)
( )

And therefore the sensitivity is defined as

∆ ( )/ ( )
= → (14)
∆ ( )/ ( )

In the limit, for small incremental changes, Equation (14) becomes

/
= = → (15)
/

System sensitivity is the ratio of the change in the system transfer function to the change of a process
transfer function (or parameter) for a small incremental change.

The sensitivity of the open-loop system to changes in the plant ( ) is equal to 1. The sensitivity of the
closed-loop is readily obtained by using equation (15). The system transfer function of the closed-loop
system is

( ) ( )
( )=
1+ ( ) ( )

Therefore, the sensitivity of the feedback system is

= × = ×
(1 + ) (1 + )

= → (16)
+ ( ) ( )

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